Third International Conference on Tourism & Leisure Studies

Abstract

After Angkor Wat was given the distinction of being among Trip Advisor’s Top 10 Tourists Landmarks in 2016, many stakeholders acknowledged this recognition as a mixed blessing. The entire Angkor site is an area of 400 square kilometers. It is also called a “living site” which means within the area, there are over 300 villages of local residents living their daily lives and farming. In many cases, the local residents have lived there for centuries and the numbers of people living within the borders of Angkor continues to increase. To complicate matters, the site now receives two million tourists per year. That number is expected to grow to four million by 2020. Teams of Cambodia cultural heritage, tourism, archeology, and destination management professionals and temple guides are engaged in focus groups, brainstorming, benchmarking, and mapping to develop a tactical plan to address these challenges. Through this exercise, we developed a process for evaluating visitor flow, re-designing processes, and taking steps to mitigate the potential negative environmental, social, and economic impacts. The outcome of this process can be used as a guide for other UNESCO sites being challenged by increases in visitation.